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Blog special from the winners of the Harpers/ Wines of Argentina competition - Part 7

Published:  22 October, 2008

In the final part of our of our blog special from Argentina, the group bid Argentina a final farewell with a refreshing Torrrontes from AltaVista. Over the past few days the winners of the Harpers/ Wines of Argentina Steak Your Claim competition have been updating us on their progress as they enjoy a tour of each of the main wine regions and visit key producers to give them a taste of what Argentina can offer the UK. They've been sending back missives of their travels. Dominic Crolla writes...

In the final part of our of our blog special from Argentina,  the group bid Argentina a final farewell with a refreshing Torrrontes from AltaVista. Over the past few days the winners of the Harpers/ Wines of Argentina Steak Your Claim competition have been updating us on their progress as they enjoy a tour of each of the main wine regions and visit key producers to give them a taste of what Argentina can offer the UK. They've been sending back missives of their travels. Dominic Crolla writes...

"Touching down at most domestic airports at 11pm and you would probably be thinking that you'd be lucky to catch a night cap at the hotel.

Not in Buenos Aires though, this place does not know how to sleep. After checking in and losing an hour as the clocks went forward we set off for "drinks" and something to eat. Thanks to a recommendation from Emily's brother we turned up at Carnal, a cocktail bar in the Palermo Soho barrio. This place was bursting with life as the hip youngsters of BA certainly ensured that the bar lived up to its name. After some margaritas, mojitos and the omnipresent "fernet y coca" (the latter is a hugely popular drink all over Argentina for reasons that we failed to determine) we moved onto our last steak house, notable only for an excellent Tannat from Bodegas Callia (even at 4am we were ready to seek out a wine we had not tasted).

The Tannat we have had in Argentina has none of the powerful, almost overbearing, tannins found in some Uruguayan versions. The Bodegas Callia Tannat was rounder, smoother with lots of black fruit, spice and hints of chocolate and vanilla and worked well with the lomo. Palermo Soho, not too dissimilar to its New York City namesake, was still buzzing when we headed back to the hotel in the now not so wee hours.

Up bright and bleary eyed at 8.30 am on Sunday morning the Forbes Five set off to enjoy the sights of Buenos Aires on offer at the tourist haven, San Telmo. A bustling Portobello road equivalent packed with trinket sellers, antiques, designer clothes and trendy bars and restaurants we managed to ditch our remaining pesos as if there were no tomorrow (in fact there was plenty tomorrow especially as we got stuck in Sao Paulo airport for hours).

And with the trip clock counting down rapidly we dived into one last bar for our farewell wine - a refreshing Torrrontes from AltaVista packed with the varietal's trademark acidity and aroma. At the airport we just had time to drop into the Wines of Argentina shop and say goodbye to all our favourite and familiar friends sitting on the shelves -the bottles of wine that are sure to become part of our (and hopefully your) everyday lives from now on ......."

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